"In City Views in the Habsburg and Medici Courts, Ryan E. Gregg relates how Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany employed city view artists such as Anton van den Wyngaerde and Giovanni Stradano to aid in constructing authority. These artists produced a specific style of city view that shared affinity with Renaissance historiographic practice in its use of optical evidence and rhetorical techniques. History has tended to see city views as accurate recordings of built environments. Bringing together ancient and Renaissance texts, archival material, and fieldwork in the depicted locations, Gregg demonstrates that a close-knit school of city view artists instead manipulated settings to help persuade audiences of the truthfulness of their patrons' official narratives"-- Provided by publisher

Includes bibliographical references (pages 369-406) and index

Witnessing sovereignty: Anton van den Wyngaerde's city views as Habsburg courtly propaganda -- The Antwerp school of city views -- Vasari, historiography, and the rhetoric of city views -- Defining ducal dominion : Giovanni Stradano's city views in the apartment of Leo X